Jira 7 Setup All User Directories are read only

[leonardolb]

I just performed a clean install of JIRA Software 7 but im stuck in first access setup with the following error:

Setup admin account: Cannot create user, all the user directories are read-only

Help!

[Philipe_Spouse]

I solved it the same way as Tuncay although I think this is not supported (yet). My install is windows 2012 r2, postgresql 9.6 and JIRA 7.2.3x64. (Also see EDIT below)

It's the same root issue I suspect as https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONF-44216

I downloaded the latest JDBC driver from https://jdbc.postgresql.org/download.html (in my case the JDBC42 driver), copied the jar into the lib folder, stopped JIRA, renamed the Atlassian prostgresql jar file to *.bak (not sure if that was necessary?), copied in the JDBC42 driver, started JIRA and it all worked from then, no more error.

I a bit of a noob at these products but it worked, so it seems to be issues with the db drivers used by JIRA and their compatibility with the DB in question. Try updating the relevant drivers.

EDIT: Adding that 1) it IS necessary to remove the old jar jdbc file and that 2) this issue does also occur on Linux and has the same solution. I had the issue with CentOS 7, PSQL 9.6 and JIRA 7.2.4.

[Sergey Bartoshik]

Update postgres jdbc driver works for me too.

[Manuel Garnier]

Thx Philipe, works for me too

[James Watts]

Yep, updating the driver fixed the issue for me, thanks!

[popescu_af]

Thanks, it works!

[Rodrigo Silva]

Works for me, too!

In addiction to the steps mentioned above, i've had to rename the latest jdbc jar to the default Atlassian postgres jdbc name (in my case, from "postgresql-9.4.1212.jar" to "postgresql-9.1-903.jdbc4-atlassian-hosted.jar")

MacOSX 10.11.6, psql 9.6.1, JIRA 7.3.0

Thanks!

[Deleted user]

Worked on MacOS too! I didn't need to rename the new jdbc.

[Vanja Babic]

I've also had to rename the latest jdbc jar to the default Atlassian postgres jdbc name from "postgresql-9.4.1212.jar" to "postgresql-9.1-903.jdbc4-atlassian-hosted".

PostgreSQL 9.6.2, JIRA 7.3.5

[Bill Spencer]

Just ran into the same problem and tried Chris' solution for MySQL.

Jira v7.12.3
JDBC 8.0.13

Mysql 5.7.23

Switched connectors to JDBC Connector v5.1.47, but that didn't fix it.

Any ideas? ... Should I re-install, and let it rebuild the database?

Bill

[Bill Spencer]

Re-installed, and it worked!

Bill

[sanugit0602]

Hi Bill,
So you used JDBC Connector v5.1.47 and that worked for you
because with JDBC 8.0.13 I'm facing the same issue.
Is that the only workaround for this error?

[Chris Levine]

Hi Kumar

Please try using the JDBC connector v5.1.47 as JDBC 8.0.13 is not supported. 

The following guide is helpful. 

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver072/connecting-jira-applications-to-mysql-828787562.html?_ga=2.88918171.1442454135.1542639993-1101370645.1540216571

In addition, the supported platforms page is helpful if you are new to Jira(Welcome btw!)

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver/supported-platforms-938846830.html

[AmmarJirjees]

Update postgres jdbc driver works for me too.

[Tuncay Senturk]

Hi,

I got the same problem with PostgreSql.

I updated postgre jdbc driver to the latest one (9.4) and restarted JIRA

Problem fixed

[Gregory Kneller]

The cause and resolution are the same as in this KB

https://confluence.atlassian.com/confkb/unable-to-set-password-for-internal-directory-user-776664224.html

Cause

Internal directory does not have the all the allowed operations , this could be lost if user updated the database directly.

The below operations should be allowed to Internal directory

CREATE_ROLE, CREATE_USER, DELETE_ROLE, UPDATE_USER, UPDATE_USER_ATTRIBUTE, DELETE_GROUP, CREATE_GROUP, UPDATE_ROLE_ATTRIBUTE, DELETE_USER, UPDATE_GROUP_ATTRIBUTE, UPDATE_GROUP, UPDATE_ROLE

Resolution

Manually insert each operation in the database table cwd_directory_operation for the internal directory

[kenorb]

The error means your database is not configured property (possibly you've skipped it by opening the /secure/SetupAdminAccount!default.jspa directly). To do that, you need to open the home page first which will trigger the redirect pages which are going to configure your database.

Related: https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Core-questions/java-lang-RuntimeException-javax-servlet-ServletException-java/qaq-p/1580242

[marcus]

This happened to me, when restoring a backup of an old version of Jira(7.1.10) to an AWS RDS postgres(9.6 and/or 10.4) database instance.  I was able to resolve this by using an AWS RDS postgres 9.4 instance.  So in my case it was database/application compatibility and deploying the application on an older version of postgres fixed it.

[Chris Levine]

Hi Everyone

I recently ran into this problem when setting up Jira with the following settings.

Jira Version - v7.6.9
JDBC connector-8.0.13

Mysql version - 5.7.24

The problem was caused by using the JDBC connector listed above instead of the recommended version which is JDBC version 5.1. 

The following guide has the steps needed and the link to the JDBC version 5.1 that is recommended.

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver072/connecting-jira-applications-to-mysql-828787562.html

Best
Chris

[nucfisher]

Atlassian says that they are db-agnostic guys. 
Also, they say that Postgres is their favorite DB.
Also, they say that Jira is pure-java app and doesn't care of kind of Linux running on.
Also, one of the most conservative distros - Debian 8 - is already ships with PostgreSQL 9.6 onboard.
As for me - Atlassian just must officially support PG 9.6 for their products.
Now!

[sandeep4774]

I have solved this issue by removing 'databaseconfig.xml' file from Jira's Home directory and restarting JIRA and setup again.

[Ryan Manning]

My solution may be limited in scope, but I had to revert to using PostgreSQL version 3 as version 4, when creating a new database, constantly throws the "user directories are read-only." I'm no tech wizard but my problem lied in the tool used to create the database.

[Pedro Souza]

Hi Leonardo,

Can you please confirm us your database type, and if the user used to connect with the database has the DROP permission? From previous cases, I've seen this same error when the database user was missing this permission

Since you are working in a clean instance, I would suggest you to create a new database for your JIRA instance then give all the database permissions, including the DROP, and try to setup JIRA again with this new database.

Cheers,

Pedro Souza.

[Dan Buffham]

I am also having this exact same issue "Cannot add user, all the user directories are read-only."

Why would the db user need drop permissions?

[Mike Scott]

Same issue here, user is GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES.

[Tuyn Doan]

Same issue here!!! JIRA 7.1.5 (I just instal last version)

I TRY : 

SET GLOBAL storage_engine = 'InnoDB';
CREATE DATABASE jira CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_bin;

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON jira.* TO 'jira'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'jira@@jira';

or

GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP,ALTER,INDEX on jira.* TO 'jira'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'jira@@jira';

FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
QUIT

==========> ERROR :  (Cannot add user, all the user directories are read-only.)
At page /secure/SetupAdminAccount.jspa

Note : i using root account

==========
Please help me! 

[Tuyn Doan]

Hi, 

I install v7.1.4 (not error)!

[Cường Nguyễn]

Hi, i'm facing the same problem with brand new download and license from Atlassian.

JIRA 7.1.5 on Windows Server 2008 , MSSQL 2008. The user has DBOwner permission.

Error: Cannot add user, all the user directories are read-only. When creating admin user.

This is emergency if anyone can help I really appreciated! 

[Vishal Gamji]

Same issue. Trying to connect to Azure SQL Database (PaaS). Any help is appreciated.